Romney defends not mentioning Afghanistan at RNC

Mitt Romney is defending the decision to not mention the war in Afghanistan during his speech at the Republican National Convention – a move that’s drawn fire from conservatives and given Democrats an opening to attack Romney on national security.

Romney noted that the day before his convention speech, he spoke to the American Legion – and that was sufficient.

“What I've found is that wherever I go I am speaking to tens of millions of people,” Romney told NBC's David Gregory in an interview aired Sunday on “Meet the Press." “Everything I say is picked up by you and by others and that's the way it ought to be. So I went to the American Legion and spoke with our veterans there and described my policy as it relates to Afghanistan and other foreign policy and our military.

“I've been to Afghanistan and the members of our troops know of my commitment to Afghanistan and to the effort that's going on there,” the Republican presidential nominee continued. “I have some differences on policy with the president. I happen to think those are more important than what word I mention in each speech.”